Hahn’s oddball comic continues, as Martha’s revelation from last issue is laughed away (but will no doubt be a big part of the climax of the book, as Martha is still a bit weird) and Kit does her thing. Which in this issue means stealing a boy from a friend and housemate. I like how Hahn is making Kit a well-rounded person, which means she does some stupid things as well as endear herself to the reader, but stealing a friend’s boyfriend is kind of low, isn’t it? It made me think of several things, mainly dealing with the difference between men and women. Yes, I’m going there. She narrates: “I’ve yet to come up with a code that will allow me to get physical with someone else’s guy. In the meantime, I can do any number of other incredibly inappropriate activities. Shut up, I know it’s still wrong.” Now, we shouldn’t let Jim off the hook – he’s messing around behind Donna’s back. But he’s not betraying a friendship, either, and Kit made the first move on him, after all. I just wonder if there’s a “chick code” like there is a “dude code” – the dude code, of course, being that you don’t steal your friend’s girl (no matter how often that happens, it’s still part of the code, dude!). I get the impression that stealing a friend’s boyfriend isn’t as frowned on by women as stealing a friend’s girl is by guys. Am I wrong? I often am, so feel free to tell me. It reminded me of this past week’s episode to True Blood*, in which Jessica dumped Hoyt because she was all hot and bothered for Jason, but Jason rightfully didn’t want have anything to do with her because Hoyt is his best friend even though he really, really wants to (because, well, duh). (I know I recently wrote about Superboy making a joke about someone – refresh my memory – dating Cassie because Conner used to date her, but the other dude wasn’t stealing Cassie from Conner, so that’s the difference). Do women operate the same way? A small sample size of anecdotal evidence from my college years suggest otherwise. I have actually heard two women say that if a friend of theirs can’t “keep their man,” then he’s fair game. Man, that’s harsh.

It also reminded me of the latest podcast Kelly, Sue, and Maddy recorded, with their guest stars from Geek Girl Con. Ms. McGillivray and Ms. Stuller mentioned that they have a panel scheduled that deals with how women “can put aside being negatively competitive, divisive, and catty to our sister Geek Girls.” I almost choked on my pretzels when I heard that (even though I wasn’t actually eating pretzels). I asked my lovely wife if women really need to learn how not to be negatively competitive, divisive, and catty to each other, and she said they did. Wow. Couldn’t the panel just be Special Guest Gail Simone (or Special Guest Hope Larson, or one of the other Special Guests) standing up and saying, “Yeah, don’t be bitches to each other.” That’s how dudes would do it. I don’t mean to be dismissive of women in general or the Geek Girls in particular, because as Kelly said during the podcast, she had to learn how not to get along with other women, so apparently it’s an issue, but I just never knew how bad it was. I mean, men are far from perfect, don’t get me wrong, but guys don’t need panels to explain to us that you shouldn’t be dicks to each other. Or maybe we do, and I’m just naïve.

Oh, this comic. Right. It’s still good. Hahn’s art is superb. It features a bulimic pumpkin (dude humor) and a Single White Female reference. So there!

* Yes, I know. My wife loves the books and likes the series, and I like spending time with my wife, so I watch the show. I really liked the first season, thought the second one was pretty decent, and thought the third was absolutely ridiculous. I’m cautiously optimistic about the way the fourth is playing out, although they could still kill off Tara and Sam and I wouldn’t have a problem with it. The Sookie and Eric thing is by far the dullest part of the show, and when Anna Paquin’s breasts can’t keep me interested, you have a problem. But yes, I do watch it and I enjoy it, for the most part, even though Game of Thrones has raised the bar for HBO shows so much I fear for even far better shows than True Blood, like Boardwalk Empire. Can you imagine if Deadwood was still on the air? If it and Game of Thrones were on back-to-back, I wouldn’t be able to watch television the rest of the year.

I honestly can’t get enough of Absorbing Man and Titania, the Love Story of the Ages. Those two kids are just so neat together, taking time out from slaughtering teenagers to make out, hating Hank Pym with the white-hot passion of a thousands suns, terrorizing the Microverse, throwing hammers through dinosaurs and inflicting psychological trauma on kids. How can you not love them? Soon, I know, Gage will inexplicably have a bunch of rookies defeat them and we’ll have to go back to focusing on stupid Mettle and Hazmat and Finesse and their stupid “Oh, we’re destined to be bad guys and we can’t touch anyone and we’re sociopaths” problems, and we won’t get any more adventures of the Bonnie and Clyde of the 21st century, but a guy can hope, can’t he? Stupid kids and their stupid issues.

De Mayere settles in a bit more as the artist on the book, and even though he’s not as good as Jacamon, he’s acceptable as a replacement. In this issue, Doug Pistoia and his cronies make their break from the multinational corporation that has been sponsoring the wars in order to make money, and the final two issues will presumably be about Doug’s efforts to destroy them. I’ve decided to enjoy the comic for what it is – a fairly standard thriller – rather than for what it could have been and seemed to be, which was a vicious satire of our society’s desire for violence. That was hinted at early on in the book, but now it seems Matz is paying a bit of lip service to it but focusing far more on the rebellion, and that’s fine. It means the book won’t be a classic, but it can still be an entertaining read. I’m still looking forward to the final two issues, but not as much as I might have been. Oh well!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

One totally Airwolf panel:

Live executions of unarmed prisoners are almost as bad as when Charles Rocket dropped the f-bomb on SNL!

I’m not sure what Lee Loughridge is doing these days to Mark Buckingham’s pencils, but the coloring on this issue is spectacular. I mean, Buckingham and Leialoha have been doing good work on the book for years, and Loughridge has been a solid colorist, but in this issue, he colors it with (seemingly) richer hues and more contrasts, and while he’s done that before for some of the book, when he does it for the entire issue, it’s really amazing. It makes the book earthier, more tinged with nostalgia without being overt about it, and somehow sadder. The first scene with Rose and the animals returning to the Farm is brilliant, and the artists keep it going throughout the rest of the issue. Like I wrote, I know Loughridge has done this before, and it was nice then, so I’m glad he’s doing it for the entire issue.

Kieron Gillen is leaving this comic after issue #12, which is depressing. I don’t know much about the new writer (James Asmus), but I may give it a chance. Considering the only reason I bought this book was Gillen, I don’t know how a new writer is going to make this work. Especially as this has become such a brilliant book – after a strong opening arc, it’s gotten better and better, and I have no idea if Asmus will be able to keep me on it.

This is another stunning issue of the series, with a small problem that I assume is explained in the pages of Schism (we are advised to read Schism #3 before reading this issue, but that’s not going to happen), as Gillen has cleverly turned this into “Phonogram: The Singles Club” with, you know, superpowers. That means he’s writing about teenagers who are trying to figure the world out, and while they can still do shit like blow stuff up and kill a lot of people (that cover isn’t lying in any way), they’re still trying to understand who they are and what they’re supposed to do in this world, much like we all did when we were teens and are still doing in some ways. Yes, the issue hinges on a horrible event, but the aftermath is amazingly devastating, from Idie’s final thought to Laurie’s confrontation with Hope. After last issue’s suicide story, that makes two issues in a row that could easily be the best issue of the year. Yes, they’re that good.

Seeley does an interesting job with the art – most of it is quite good, and then we get that weird group shot of the X-Men, in which Emma looks like, well, Emma. And why is Laurie’s hoodie unzipped so far? Weird. And yes, I’ve been reading too much of Kelly’s stuff again. But it is kind of strange. Seeley, however, nails the final page, and generally he does a fine job.

So what’s the problem? Well, the X-Men get taken down. Very quickly. This, I assume, is explained in Schism #3, but it seemed very odd that they would go down so easily. I’m not going to worry about it because of the fact that it’s a “crossover” and Gillen could have easily written the exact same story with different hostages, so I choose to believe that those X-Men are just actors hired by the museum to help sell the exhibit. That happens, right?

I love this comic – Gillen has given the kids such wonderful personalities (Idie is a bit extreme, but people like her do exist, after all) and they interact very well with each other, even if they don’t always get along. They speak like real (albeit fairly smart) people, have interesting opinions (Idie’s thoughts about the X-Men before the incident are fascinating because they have the ring of truth about them, even though she’s quickly disabused of those notions), and face actual problems, even if they’re seen through the lens of superpowers and whatnot. So, yeah – I love this comic. I really hope it can be half as good once Gillen leaves.

(I was reading some of the comments on the Mothership forum of the announcement that Asmus is taking over. Some people really hate this comic, which is fine with me – different strokes, right? However, I still don’t understand this idea of buying something you don’t like. If this book was no good, I wouldn’t have bought past the first arc. Why on earth are you still buying it for ten issues if you hate it? That’s $30 you could have saved, you know. Or if you gave it an arc and hated it, you still could have saved $18. What the fuck, people? In 2011, are there still people who buy everything X-related even if it sucks? I’m sorry to be harsh, but those people are stupid. STUPID!!!!!! Jesus, buy comics you like, people.)

Milligan gives us another brutal single issue, as John checks in on Julian, that nasty dude from early in Milligan’s run (I’d tell you the issue numbers, but I’m fucked if I can remember), in prison. He doesn’t really want to, but Julian is haunting the other inmates (he makes them believe they’re being ripped apart at night, but in the morning, they’re fine), and Terry Greaves asks John to help, because … well, it doesn’t really matter, does it? Epiphany asks John to help, so he does. Mayhem ensues!

As he’s been doing, Milligan does a nice job showing how weak John can actually be. Even when he was at his lowest in the past (well, when I read the book, which means I have huge gaps between issue #100 and #250), writers would show John spitting in the face of the devil, so to speak. Milligan has done some of that, but he’s also made it clear that John is far more out of his depth than he seems, so even though he manages to hold it together, we can sense how desperate he is. It’s a tightrope, and Milligan walks it well. So in this issue, even though we know that John will win in the end (because he always does), Milligan puts him through the wringer, and we really believe he’s been through the wringer, which isn’t always the case. The resolution is a bit … quick, I suppose, perhaps because of the 20-page restriction, so we have to move along, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s an impressive little story.

I thought about redacting this cover like I did the Batman: Knight of Vengeance one, because this one also gives away a fairly major plot point, but then I remembered that DC did actually put this cover in Previews a few months ago (I can’t remember if they did the same with the Batman book), and J’onn’s presence in this book isn’t as stunning as the events in the Batman comic. So I apologize for the spoiler, but DC did it first!

I think this is a good comic, but I’ve read some people who are far smarter than I am write about how crappy it is, so I’m not sure. I mean, what’s wrong with it? This is a nasty little book in which two evil characters fight each other, but Robinson has done a nice job showing why they’re both evil. I mean, if I were J’onn, I’d be a bit peeved as well. And it’s always nice to see J’onn cut loose, because it happens so rarely. Fernandez draws it very well, and the fight between Michael and J’onn is tremendous. The only problem I have with it is that we knew how it was going to end, because we know that Michael joined up with Cyborg and the other heroes and attacked England, so the fight is robbed of a bit of the drama. But other than that, this is a cool little mini-series. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?

Lemire wraps up Superboy with the big showdown issue, which includes some nice clever moments (I like how Conner and Lori both decide the same way on different courses of action, and they both work) and some good action. It’s a decent enough issue, but it kind of speaks to the series as a whole – some potential, some payoff, but the feeling that something is missing. Lemire got interrupted by the Doomsday clusterfuck and then the big reboot, so maybe that has something to do with it, but the book never quite worked perfectly. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it just never felt like it gelled the way some comics do. It’s not a bad comic by any means, and if DC releases a trade of the ten issues (I don’t count the Doomsday one, because it sucked), I wouldn’t say it’s a waste of money (Lori and Simon are very fun characters, plus you get parasite frogs, which is always nifty), but it’s not something that’s going to blow you away. Oh well.

This is a big fight issue, as the things that came out of the lake last issue start killing everyone and mutating so they can fly and be even nastier, and it works for what it is. The bad guys who want to escape from the Raft finally make their move, Gunna has some fun killing the beasties, and the evolution of Man-Thing reaches a critical stage (see below). I don’t have much else to say about this comic. Parker knows which beats to hit, de Landro and Southworth draw it well, there’s action, there’s a bit of humor, there’s betrayal, and the book ends with Chicago about to be destroyed. Sorted!

First, let’s get that cover out of the way. For years, I’ve tried not to imagine where Greg Land is stealing images from, and the cover is one for the ages, because I really don’t want to know where he got Peter’s face:

O-face

O-Face!

O-FACE!!!!!!!

Man, let’s move on.

Gillen’s writing isn’t quite as good on this as it is on Generation Hope, mainly because that’s a different kind of book on which he can utilize his strengths more, but so far, he’s making me read a Greg Land-drawn comic, which is quite an accomplishment. I don’t know who is telling Emma to kill Hope (because she looks like Jean, and as we know in comics, your first love is ALWAYS your true love, so Scott would naturally dump Emma if/when Jean comes back, just like he dumped Madelyne Pryor, and yes, before you ask, Scott is a complete tool, but even he wouldn’t steal his best friend’s girlfriend), but it’s a nifty little subplot. The main plot, of course, is that they need to stop the Juggernaut, so Magik takes Peter and Kitty to see Cyttorak and tell him that the Juggernaut isn’t working for his team anymore. This leads to Peter becoming the Juggernaut so he can stop the original. So there’s that.

It’s not a bad issue, and while I’m not a huge fan of Gillen doing what Fraction did and throwing dozens of X-Men into the book, I don’t hate it because of the threat and the way he does it – they show up for a panel, fail to stop Marko, and then we move on. If you’re a fan of Rogue or Psylocke or Adam X, you might be a bit peeved that they’re cast aside so quickly, but it’s an interesting way to show how prepared Scott is for something major like this and how powerful the Juggernaut has become. So I don’t hate it. However, I do wonder where the Juggernaut actually is in relation to San Francisco. At least 75 minutes passes in this comic (and I would argue that it’s probably more like 2-3 hours) and he still hasn’t reached the city? Where the heck is he? I know, it’s just a way to show how much they’re throwing at Marko, but if Gillen is going to bring it up, it would be nice to have a better sense of where he is and how long it’s taking him to move.

I don’t want to write too much about Greg Land, but as I’ve been reading too much by Kelly these days (yes, I mentioned Kelly three times in this post, so I receive another “I Hate Men and Comics” badge), I have to mention the fact that Danger stands outside Scott’s office with “her” hips tilted. Danger. A robot. Tilted hips. I mean, Jesus.

Okay, I’d like to preface this by saying that I still like this comic and that, for the past, what, six or seven years, X-Factor has been the best X-book around. All right? All right. Here’s the issue: Why on earth does Peter David keep making his characters pregnant when he has no intention of having babies in his book? First it was Siryn, and now Rahne. I thought that perhaps Rahne would actually keep this baby, but no, we finish the book with David writing it out, although it still exists, unlike Theresa’s kid. So what’s the deal? I mean, babies in serialized popular fiction are a bad idea, because raising babies is fairly dull and routine, something that is anathema to dramatic fiction, but in television, actual actresses are getting pregnant and the shows have to deal with it (although I wish shows would deal with it like the Seinfeld people dealt with Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s pregnancy – pregnancies? – by hiding her behind things and putting bigger clothes on her, instead of making the main characters pregnant, because that never ends well), so I can forgive it a bit. But there’s no actress playing Rahne, is there? Peter David didn’t have to make her pregnant. Now, I know that you can’t get David off a book unless you pry it from his cold, dead fingers, so he’ll probably write this book for the next two decades and therefore has plenty of time to bring the kid back and he might even have plans for him sooner than that, but still. I know that he wanted to explain Pip and Hela and Rahne’s pregnancy did that, but he could have come up with a better explanation, right? Of course, the book is still very good, but come on.

And I assume that’s the same Agamemnon from The Incredible Hulk, because how many old souls in kid’s bodies named Agamemnon are running around the Marvel Universe? Man, David doesn’t treat him well. It’s his character, though, so I guess he can treat him however he likes!

[Edit: Commenters have pointed out that David did not, in fact, make Rahne pregnant, but inherited her condition from X-Force. Way to spoil a good rant, guys! Sheesh, you people. I should have known that, because someone – I think – brought it up before. Dang it. DANG IT!!!!! I still think that David should have dealt with the kid, even if he didn’t want Rahne to be pregnant. Making her have a miscarriage would probably have been too “real-life,” so I can understand why he didn’t go that route, but my point stands. Whoever made her pregnant in the pages of X-Force – was it Remender? – wasn’t doing anyone any favors, especially if he knew he wasn’t going to have Rahne to write for much longer. Sorry, Mr. David!]

This is a very nice-looking comic – some of it is done in the style of olde-tyme newspaper strips, and the rest fits that style, with a nicer, modern look. I’m looking forward to checking this out, even if Jeph Loeb writes the introduction.

The Washington Post is quoted on the back of this hardcover thusly: “Realistic and relevant.” Now, I suppose it’s somewhat relevant, but I’m not sure what world the reviewer lives in where talking animals that have been turned into computer-driven killing machines is “realistic.” Maybe they have those sorts of things down in DC! That would explain the extreme battling over the federal budget, I suppose! Also, some people – cough*Louis*cough – don’t think Quitely’s art is all that on this comic. Don’t let the crazy people tell you otherwise, people!

In “this week on the Internet” news, Marvel and Spencer’s have teamed up to bring you sexy pajamas drawn like Marvel women, because most women aren’t of the *ahem* proportions of Marvel heroines, so they need some help! That She-Hulk one at the link might be my favorite, but they have more. Oh yes, they have more!

Also: Check out these Batman .gifs from the television show. Yes, it’s easy to make fun of, but it was also awesome, so there’s that.

Yes, it’s time once again for The Ten Most Recent Songs On My iPod (Which Is Always On Shuffle):

1 I just want you to know that I love this song so much that if you say anything bad about it, I don’t know if we can be friends anymore. Be forewarned!

2 I know they’re usually called “the Destroyers,” but I love the fact that Thorogood is from Delaware. That cracks me up for some reason. If you’ve ever been to Wilmington, you’d know why. (Wilmington is a charming little city, but it doesn’t seem like the kind of place where a bluesman would be spawned.)

Hmmm … I suppose here’s the spot for a Totally Random Movie Quote!

“I killed a girl, it was no accident. Put a gun to the back of her head and blew her brains right out the front. I was in love.”
“I strangled mine.”
“Did you love her?”
“She was okay.”

30 Comments

jjc

The first thing I noticed about Fables this month was that the art was somehow “better”. Glad I wasn’t the only one. Was hoping for the “F-tard” scene as the Airwolf one, but that whole series of putdowns was too good to just pick one.

Mark

The difference in the Fables art is mainly on Mark Buckingham, not Lee Loughridge. Buckingham now does a grey-scale watercolor wash over his pencils, and then they are sent of to Loughridge for coloring. So while the colorist does have to approach the coloring differently than before, the new style originates from Buckingham. Check out Vertigo’s blog from July 23rd to see the process (along with other upcoming Fables art).

M Bloom

In all fairness to Peter David, he didn’t make Rahne pregnant. This is a storyline he inherited when he got her back from X-Force. It hasn’t been my favorite storyline, but I think PAD has made decent use of something that he’d probably never planned (and spirit guide Feral is the only time I’ve ever enjoyed the character, which is something I’d honestly never thought possible with Feral).

RobA.

Man I was hoping you either reviewed either Daredevil or Journey Into Mystery. Those are two my favorite underrated Marvel books. Oh well at least you did Tbolts (loved this issue) and picked up other good solid books as well.

P.C. Bernard

Greg Burgas

jjc: I wanted to use a panel with those two, but you’re right – it was too hard to pick just one.

Paladin_King (and RobA.): In my slow quest to stop buying singles, I’ve decided to wait for the trade on both JiM and Daredevil. I’ve heard many good things about both of them, so I’m looking forward to them, but I just don’t want to keep buying single issues. Mostly because of storage, honestly, although the lack of ads in trades is nice, too.

Mark: Very good to know about the art. Thanks for the information.

M Bloom and P.C. Bernard: Yeah, I edited that into the post. Thanks for reminding me; someone did a while ago, and I just forgot. Dang it!

Well, just to clarify. It’s not that I can’t, or didn’t “get along with women”. I’ve always gotten along fine, and always had female friends…but I did and do notice that I feel much more competitive with women then with men (even in talents/activities that are generally more unisex)…and that’s some kind of bullshit. I think that competitiveness with women made me naturally more catty and not-awesome toward women, even if it was private and internalized rather than external and overt. And not being like that is something I wanted to actively improve in myself.

I don’t think I would ever actively go to a panel on it – I guess I don’t think I’m that far gone, and I also think that once I acknowledged it in myself I got much better at self-correcting it.

Without intending to blame shift my own attitudes and failings onto other things/people/etc (at the end of the day *I* alone am responsible for my own failings) I think women are well-trained at a very early age by society at large to compete with each other – are you the prettiest in the room, the smartest, the thinnest, the most talented, the nicest, etc. And if you’re not…why not? Can you be? How? Frequently when women get to that “why not?” part of the equation, self-doubt and insecurity seem to lead to a really horrible internal dialogue. “Well, I’m not the prettiest, but she is a bitch and a half!” etc. It also makes it easy to try to take down others with negativity instead of improving yourself. Again, it leads to nowhere, it’s counter-productive, and I’m doing my best to self-correct. I know a lot of other women feel the same way but I obviously can’t speak to anyone but myself.

As for “chick code”. I don’t know. I think I just live by “Kelly Code” which is not always perfect, but is basically about trying to not be a douchebag as much as possible. Definitely “sleeping with or seducing anyone else’s dude or chick” would be totally inconceivable under “Kelly Code”. But I don’t think I have ANY female friends that would even consider that as an option…but I just rack that up to having good non-destructive taste in other people. But obviously women who do that stuff exist…but so do men who do that stuff…so…I don’t know?

Does “guy code” even really exist as anything other than a concept thrown about in theory and/or in crappy movies? Mostly what I see are people independent of gender acting like asshats…no?

ps – Your “I hate Men and Comics” badge is in the mail. How many does that make for you?

“Also, some people – cough*Louis*cough – don’t think Quitely’s art is all that on this comic.”

I’m not a Quitely fan. It’s not a crime, Burgas. Further, I found the major flaws of that series in Morrison’s plot and scripting, not the art. And no I won’t go into that at length, because it’s been four or five years since I read the story, and I don’t currently have access to a copy to refresh my memory (and I certainly wouldn’t spend money to acquire one, merely to make a point).

Kelly: Thanks for the clarification. I didn’t mean to state that you didn’t get along with women in general, so I apologize. I find the idea that women are sort-of “trained” to be that way fascinating, because you’re not the first woman I’ve heard express that idea. I don’t recall ever feeling that way about other boys – my parents expected me to do well, but there wasn’t the idea of being better than the other boys, and I didn’t get the feeling that society in general was pitting boys against each other. Maybe I was just oblivious. It seems that competitiveness in boys is somehow seen as healthy and even if you’re deficient in some areas, you can make it up in others, while in girls, as you say, the question becomes “Why aren’t you ______ as she is?” That’s messed up.

I don’t think there’s really a dude code as much as it’s something we get from popular culture. I’m glad to hear that stealing someone else’s guy is frowned upon – even Krys said that the two examples I know of are rather unusual. Yeah, I do think it’s more of people in general acting like asshats or not acting like asshats, regardless of gender!

I think I have two or three badges. You’ve had a terrible effect on me, young lady!

jjc

What are the criticisms of Gen Hope from the fans on the board? Or more importantly, what do they think they want out of the book? If I had to guess, without looking, I would bet a big “problem” is lack of traditional X-Men villains.

matthew

Anonymous

Who could dislike that song? Even if you hate his voice, the song is beautiful.

I didn’t like it when I heard Greg’s link, but when I tracked down the studio version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yZ50ptDpuQ) I agree, it’s beautiful. I could barely make out the words or background music in that live version.

sgt pepper

Aren’t women biologically bound to act that way in order to establish some kind of pecking order amongst themselves, even in situations where pecking order no longer has much meaning? I’m pretty sure it’s evident in all ape societies and can’t be resolved by something as simple as “stop being bitches to one another.” Men also establish dominance in their relationships, but in much different ways than women.

I’m surprised Greg, that you’ve worked in a female dominated field (teaching) and are surprised by this or hadn’t noticed it before. Maybe it’s because you were a history guy, which, I believe, is one of the male dominated subject areas.

art.the.nerd

Re the “Airwolf” panel from Superboy #11. I think Lori could distract whatever-the-heck that is (Parasite?) much better than Jimmy can. If you know what I mean (http://tinyurl.com/3bq23np, link goes to tv tropes).

jjc: The criticisms are very vague, but mainly it’s just “I can’t wait for the new writer, because it’s been so stinky” kind of thing. The closest to a specific criticism is that the characters are bland and derivative. But it just seems like it’s typical X-fans bitching about stuff.

T.: Thanks for that link; I edited it in. I usually try to find studio versions of songs because live stuff on YouTube can be dicey, but for whatever reason, I didn’t find that one.

sgt. pepper: I’m always wary about assigning reasons people do things to biology, because of the fact that humans can reason and therefore can overcome biological urges in some ways. Interestingly, the one school where I taught was dominated by male teachers, and at the other one, I didn’t really notice it too much. I only taught for slightly more than 3 years, so maybe I just wasn’t around long enough!

art.the.nerd: Yeah, when I first read the panel proceeding this, I thought it was Simon telling Lori to provide the distraction, because, well, you know (how does that top actually stay where it is?).

Dude: Yeah, I know it’s Aaron, and I know people I respect like it (like Kelly), but I just can’t bring myself to get it. The premise seems so overwrought. It’s wearying, I suppose. Plus, the whole waiting for the trade thing is seeping into my buying habits, so maybe I will get that in some months.

I’ve been listening to a lot of covers of that song since discovering the original this morning via Greg (thanks to Youtube’s recommendation system). The one you linked to is probably the best I’ve heard so far.

Brian Cronin

Yeah, it’s a great version. The album is called Beneath the Country Underdog. It is a strong mix of originals by Kelly Hogan and some excellent cover choices by her, highlighted, of course, by “Papa Was a Rodeo.”

But honestly, that’s what Stephin Merritt is great at. He writes these beautiful songs that sound good when he sings them but sound REALLY good when other people sing them. To wit, check out Peter Gabriel’s version of “Book of Love.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nZGv8VTBVE

Applemask

The thing that’s wrong with the Outsider is the name of its writer. There’s no way it would be getting actively savaged without the name James Robinson on the cover. It wouldn’t win any awards, but people wouldn’t feel it’s their duty to tear it apart like it’s the second coming of Terry Kavanagh smeared in shit.

Loop

I’m with Applemask. Outside of Cry for Justice, most of Robinson’s recent work has just been run of the mill super-stuff. His JLA has basically spent the last, uh, I want to say five or six issues in a fight with Eclipso that’s been fine: neither great or awful. A lot of it’s just frustration that the guy who wrote Starman seems to be gone. I empathize, but we’ve had like a year to reconcile ourselves to this and I think it’s time to get over it.

ZZZ

The thing about Juggernaut walking toward San Francisco: He’s walking, and while he’s got long enough legs that he can probably walk pretty quickly, a large crowd of people is keeping pace with him easily enough that they don’t appear to be too winded to shoult and rabble-rouse, so you have to figure he isn’t going any faster than 3 miles per hour, so if the X-Men have been fighting him for 3 hours, even if they haven’t even slowed him down once, he’s still gone less than 10 miles in that time.

Now, I don’t know any more about the geography of California than you could learn from a globe, so take this with a grain of salt, but I do know that there are suburbs of Chicago well over 10 miles away from the city itself where, when something major happens, the national media just refers to them as “Chicago” rather than say “Palatine” or “Hoffman Estates” and then have to explain how close it is to Chicago so people will care, and I assume the same is true of most major American cities. Hell, I used to live 27 miles from Chicago and you could see the Sears Tower from my house on a clear day.

In other words, if SF is anything like Chicago, the Juggernaut could easily walk toward it for three hours and still be both several hours away from the city limits and close enough to cause panic if it’s obvious he’s headed for the city.

There is one major problem with this, but they’ve also given themself a pretty clever out by making Fear Itself about a fear god trying to spread terror. The problem (as I’ve harped on before) is that the Juggernaut walked to SF from New York in, like, a day. And he didn’t even go in a straight line, given the other places he turned up in in other books. The out they’ve got is that thanks to the fear angle, it actually makes sense that the Juggernaut would sprint or fly (it’s been pointed out – I thik in Thunderbolts – that he should be able to use his hammer to fly, and if he’s walking instead it’s for a reason) through areas with lower populations, and then slow way down once he reached a major city so they could whip themselves into a nice panicky lather as he ominously loomed on the horizon for hours.

Travis Pelkie

Y’know, I don’t always agree with Louis, but I respect his point of view because he usually makes his view respectfully and in an intelligent way, but not a fan of Quitely, OR of WE3? Oy. I dunno man, I dunno. I thought it’s one of the best comics ever, it makes me cry every time I read it, and what I’ve seen of the new pages looks pretty damn good.

Plus, since Quitely’s finished the new WE3 pages, that means that, if all went well, Morrison’s given him the script to the Multiversity issue he’s doing. So we know what FQ will be doing for the next year…

I still love you, Louis.

I like how alphabetically it worked out that we see Colossus’s O-face right after a giant sized Man-Thing. O, O!

The Cosh

The thing about Papa Was a Rodeo is that it manages to pull off the incredibly difficult trick of being both a great parody and a great song in its own right.

Brian, afraid I really didn’t like that Gabriel version of Book of Love. It’s like his self-righteousness has sucked all the sardonic wit out of the original. Biko’s great though. In first at university, my friend stayed in room 619 and she definitely never got bored of me singing stupid variations on that verse.